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t ELLA'S 



J 

LIFE & POEMS. 



INTRODUCTORY PREFACE 



BY 



A FEIEISTD. 

PUBLISHED B\VJC0®HEST.> 

Copyrighted, 1880. 'S^^o. WeJls 




-Va 



NORFOLK, VA.: 

Wm. N. Grubb, Book & Job Phtnter, 



, .<^^ -if=4 — -1-^ 1880. J^ — P^r-> 



:^i 






Ella's Life and Poems. 









^|## 



r\ 



N 



TO 

Mrs. Stephen Austen Wilson, 

OF 

Cambkidge, England, 

this little v^olume is affectionately 

dedicated. 



PREFACE. 



TT gives us great pleasure, to present to our read- 
ers, a few innocent poems, the production of 
one, who though very young, evinced one great truth 
in nature, and. also, in the organization of humanity ; 
viz., that talent will not lie hid and genius will show 
itself, whenever an opportunity offers : and there can 
be no better given, than, being surrounded with natur- 
al objects, and scenery. 

It is then, the soul of the poet, holds communion 
with its Father, through his works : the muse is awaken- 
ed, and flaps its wings with joy, to find melody and 
praise, in the very rocks and rills. 

Ella Marie Wells seemed thus to dwell in sweet 
communion with all that makes life real, as to the 
pleasures and beauties of natural objects ; and had 
she lived to womanhood, none could dare say, what 
her fame as a poetess might have been. 



Ella's Life and Poems. 



To her, every natural object seemed to inspire a 
new thought ; love and joy, contentment and praise, 
seemed to well forth from an overflowing heart : noth- 
ing from her Creators hands, too small to notice ; 
mites and atoms, unseen by the ordinary mind, ap- 
peared to inspire her to swell her Maker s praise : and 
thoughts, as pure as crystal waters, embodied them- 
selves in language, thus leaving to her friends a small 
legacy or memento, which they desire shall be preserv- 
ed in such a manner, that she may not soon be for- 
gotten. 

We wish, therefore, in kind memory of her, to give 
others an opportunity of reading, for themselves, 
what affords us pleasure. 

The legacy of one of our Sunday School pupils, an 
unobtrusive, industrious, christian child ; one ever 
zealous in the cause she espoused, and loved most, by 
those who knew her best. We submit these little po- 
ems to our readers, innocent and natural in them- 
selves, hoping she may be an example, in stinuilating 
others of tender years, in yielding to the guidance, of 
the unerring hand, and hnproving the talents conmiit- 
ted to their trust. 

L. F. G. 



CONTENTS. 



First Composition \) 

Little Annie, 10 

The Beaks, U 

An Apology to a Playmate, 12 

Hearts of Oak, IS 

The Bonnie Dundee, 14 

The Storm of August 19th, 1879, 15 

The Frog's Party, 16 

The Mermaids 18 

A Letter, 20 

The Two Sisters ; or, a Home in the Coi^ntry, .22 

The Bli'ebirds 24 

The Fairies' Party 26 

Our Pets, 28-30 

The Bird, 32 

The Fowls' Party% 33 

The Bird's Nest 36 

The Wanderer, 38 

The Rain, 39 

The Voyage 41 

The Butterc up 43 

Memoir, 45 



Ella's IjIfe and Poems. 






m 



Ella's Life and Poems. 



FIRST COMPOSITION. 

Aged Ten Years. 



XTNDEPb the cedar tree and in the quiet shade, 
^ Lies hollow' d out by hands, a very little grave 
In it with white flowers, and cedar on her brow, 
Lies dear little Bertha, she was buried just now. 




~rAEAR little Annie, sweet and mild, 
-^""^ how I love the darling child. 
She jumps and laughs, she laughs and plays. 
Oh, she is happy, all the days. 

But she has her faults, yes, that is true. 
Sometimes she will not say, thank you. 
The end is, that tears fall like rain, 
She says, she wont do so again. 



[Altered metre.] 

She likes to wade in the water. 

And she likes to run on the beach ; 

She can put her little, white hand 

In jugs, where, our hands, cannot reach. 

I hope, with our dear little Annie, 
All things will go smoothly and well ; 
Good bye, my dear little Annie : 
And again, I will say farewell. 



P]lla's Life and Poems. H 



THE BEARS. 



n^HREE little bears, in a nest I see, 

The nest was made in the stump of a tree 
The tree with leaves all fresh and gi-een : 
The sight was worthy to be seen ; 
And flowers, lovely, as they spread, 
Over the tiny, little bear's head. 



Wi 




AN APOLOGY TO A PLAYMATE. 

{Master Herman Cam}).) 



/^ H ! Hermon, my dear, 
^^ How I wish you were here ; 
Please forgive us for what we have done, 
Come over to-day, and have a long play ; 
And help us, to share in our fun. 

AVe shall be very glad, 

If you'll not think us bad ; 

And we hope that you're not offended, 

How I long for the day, when we all shall say, 

I know that our quarrels are ended. 



M 



Ella's Life and Poems. 13 



HEARTS OF OAK. 



TTEARTS of oak, the ships contain. 

The bold, the brave, the free ; 
Yet daunted when the tempests rei^n. 
In grandest majesty. 

But Grod, is in the tempest, 
And He will make it calm ; 
For He holds the mighty waters, 
In the hollow of His hand. 



14 Ella's Life and Poems. 



THE BONNIE DUNDEE. 



^ I ^HE good ship Bonnie Dundee, 

On the waters may she glide, , 
O'er the bosom of the deep bkie sea, 
With the sea birds by her side. 

She comes from the Shetland Isles, 
The Islands, bleak, and drear ; 
One blessing above all others resigns, 
For sweet liberty is there. 



^ m 

Ella's Life and Poems. 15 



THE STORM of AUGUST 19TH, 1879. 



n\ /TONDAY morning broke drizzling and gray, 

Though it was not fine on yesterday ; 
Rain pour'd in torrents, the wind rose high, 
Waves drowned the frightened sea gull's cry. 

Eleven o'clock, the storm was high, 
And many birds fell down to die : 
Crash ! went the shade tree, part of it fell, 
What would the next be, no one could tell. 

Mulberry trees fell down to the ground, 
Scattering clods of the earth around ; 
Towards the South, the cherry tree fell, 
No more cherries, we liked so well. 




THE FROG'S PARTY. 

— «sfflnnsE^»«- — 

T WILL have a party, said Mrs. Frog, 

Who Uved on the brmk, of a marshy bog, 
And many friends, too, I'll invite, 
And we will have a pleasant night. 

The party night, it came at last. 
And all the guests, came in, quite fast ; 
They played at running in and out, 
And put each other, all to rout. 

'Till Mr. Spot, says the fable. 
Said that supper was on the table ; 
They went to dine, each in a pair : 
Oh I think, 'twas very fair. 

Then they went to sing and dance, 
Round, and round the room they prance ; 



m- 



Ella's Life and Poems. IT 



The ladies sing, the men they whistle ; 
Then they play at hide the thistle. 

The ladies, went to bathe at night, 
Splashing the water, by moonlight ; 
Then they went to the other shore : 
On white lilies, without any oar. 

Then they play at hide and seek ; 
All about the shore they meet ; 
And gather flowers, everywhere : 
Some are common, some are rare. 

Till, at length, they see the dawning, 
And go home, at three in the morning ; 
With bunches of flowers everywhere : 
Some are common, some are rare. 

3rORAL. 

But dear children, do not wish, 
To go to a party, such as this ; 
It 's not well, to stay out at night : 
Go to bed early, that is right. 



18 Ella's Life and Poems. 



THE MERMAIDS. 



Tj^AR down at the bottom of the sea lived a tribe of 
^ Mermaids. ; the men were ugly, the maids were beau- 
tiful, but they were all very cruel. In the centre of the 
Ocean was the palace of Queen Edith. It was built of red 
and white coral, cut in patterns, and very beautiful. In the 
garden were fishes, ferns, coral, insects, pebbles, gold, and 
precious stones ; for the Mermaids wrecked ships, and got 
the spoils. The Maids took gi-eat care of their Queen, for 
if she died, the whole race of them would be exterminated : 
and they never let her go to the surface of the Ocean. 

One day a fish came to the palace, and said your Queen 
will die soon, and I shall be so glad, cruelty is always pun- 
ished. Before they could catch him, he swam away. The 
Maids were so angry, that they wi'ecked a ship that day, and 
laughed so loudly that the people on shore shook their heads, 
and said an earthquake was coming. 



The next day the Queen said she would go to the surface 
of the Ocean, and although they begged her not to, she 
would go. So they harnessed two fishes to an Ocean shell 
and the Queen sat in that, a cupid drove, a Merman went in 
front and one behind, to proclaim her coming. Two Mer- 
maids were behind ; suddenly a fish rose to the surface, and 
swallowed cupid and Queen, Mermaids and Mermen, shell, 
fishes and all, then rapidly disappeared. Thus cruelty was 
punished. 



A LETTER, 



My dear Cordelia. 

I have much to say, and but Uttle space to say 
it m. Do you know Cordie W.? She is some relation of '[ j 
yours, I think ! \Vell, a short time ago, I was reading a 
piece called the frogs" party, aloud, when she said something 
about being very impolite, and of course interrupted me. 
I burst out laughing, and when I could speak, I told her I 
was not laughing at what she said, but at her : for I thought 
it impolite for her to interrupt when I was reading ! 

She was silent. Oh my friend, I wish you could see our 
home, the field is covered with buttercups, that look like a 
golden carpet. We have a cherry tree, and an apple tree, 
and in the trunk is a hole, vath a bird's nest, and six eggs in 
it. 

We have a good many fig trees, with figs on them, but 






not so many as last year. We have hundreds of (\vild) 
Phini and Mulberry trees, and some strawberries. 

If you want flowers to put hi your hair, or at your neck, 
come here for yellow jessamine, coral woodbine and stars 
of Bethlehem. Avild roses and moss. We have cows, calves, 
rabbits, pigeons, fowls, a dog, and as I am writhig. my pet 
cat, Blackie, is curled up beside me. 

But I must not forget the river, the beaiitilul ri\ er ! It 
is in front of our house, and there is a nice wide beach, and 
in Summer w^e bathe nearly every day, and catch crabs and 
fish. W^e have a croquet lawn, and we all play croquet, on 
it, in front of the house ; but I am going too far. 

With love to all. I remain, 

Yoiu' affectionate friend, 

Ella Marie Wilson Wells. 

To Miss Cordelia. 



im 



THE TWO SISTERS ; OR, 

A HOME IN THE COUNTRY. 



Ethel. I offer you my house and home. 
Oh, Edith, Hve with me, 
We'll be the happiest in the land, 
That ever you did see. 

Edith. Oh Ethel, "I will" live with thee. 
We'll have a little home, 
With creeping woodbine, and a tree, 
And we will never roam. 

Ethel. We'll have a porch, a shady porch. 
With woodbine trailing round, 
And roses climbing up the wall ; 
And falling to the ground. 



Edith. And candy tuft, of purest white, 
Shall in our yard abound, 
And dusty miller, green and grey, 
Be creeping o'er the ground. 

Ethel. Chrysanthemums, so pink and white. 
Shall lift their stately heads ; 
And lilies, of the valley fair : 
Be in our garden beds. 

Edith. And in our porch, a little bird, 
There hanging up shall, be ; 
And when she 's hatched her little eggs, 
I'll let them all go free. 

Ethel. I have our home all ready now. 
And we will go to-day ; 
I'll gather now the choicest flowers, 
And then we'll go away. 



THE BLUEBIRDS. 



A BLU]^:BIRD built her nest, 
In the old apple tree, 
She thought she'd have some rest. 
And vras happy as she could be. 

Six eggs were in the nest. 

They lay there, snug, and warm ; 

The mother stayed there, with them, lest. 

They should come to some harm. 

Six birds were hatched at last. 

In the old apple tree ; 

The mother thought all care was past. 

She was happy, as she could be. 

The father brought her food, 
He let her have some play ; 
She did not go far from her brood. 
But just a httle way. 

At last the birds could fly, 
The mother was so glad ; 
But then a little bird did die. 
And then that made her sad. 



The young birds flew away, 
To make themselves some homes ; 
They said they'd come again some day 
And bring their little ones. 

The old birds have a nest, 

In a nice cedar tree ; 

They often talk of going home ; 

Where their children all will be. 



i 

' 26 Ella's Life and Poems. 



THE FAIRIES' PARTY. 



r I iHE faries, were having a party grand. 

And all their friends, they bade come ; 
They had the richest in the land : 
And then escorted them home. 

The Queen was dressed in a rosy dress, 
It was made of butter-flies' wings ; 
And now a crown, like a golden tress, 
A sweet little fairy brings. 

Rosetta ! Rosetta ! come here to me, 
She cried in a voice of command ; 
Run over to that golden tree, 
And bring me a beautiful wand. 



Ella's Life and Poems. 27 



And now the table, was set at last, 
A table of purest gold ; 
The diamond dishes, were laid on fast. 
Imagine what a wealth untold. 



OUR PETS. 



/^\ COME and see my pretty pets, 
^^ My rabbits, and my cat ; 
Then come and see the little calves : 
And say if they're not fat. 

Here's General ! that's the little one, 
A little rascal too. 

Perhaps he'd try to knock you down ; 
If he'd come close to you. 

Here's Ruby, she's the little one, 
Now panting in the shade ; 
And Belle, my little heifer : ^ 
Under that tree is laid. 



w. 



Ella's Life and Poems. 29 



There's that little, frisky beauty, 
And Isidore so ^ay ; 
And Daisy there, that bright red one 
She too, is full of play. 

Here *s Daisy Dean, my rabbit, 
With little young ones, four ; 
But for all that, she 's very bad : 
She gets out through the door. 

And Carlo is the pet dog, 
And Blackie is the cat ; 
Now for such a very long time, 
I have not seen a rat. 

And now about our little pets, 
I've told you all I ken ; 
But if we have some others : 
I'll tell you about them. 



OUR PETS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

n\ ypY little friends, some time ago, 

I promised, as you all do know 
To tell about my pets. 



Hear's Pearly now, of purest white, 
With eyes of pretty pink ; 
She never even tries to bite : 
She only stays to wink. 

Here 's Countess, too, a pretty cow, 
With eyes and ears of black : 
And Dot is that one by her now : 
With red and whitish back. 



And Brindle ! is that brownish one, 
With lowly, drooping head ; 
But the mischief is already done : 
Her little calf is dead. 

Here 's grave and wise, old black cow, 
With saddened looking eyes ; 
If Dutchess came upon you now : 
She'd take you by supprise. 

And here 's the little spotted one, 
General's adopted mother ; 
General ! is still as full of fun, 
As if he had a brother. 

And now my pretty little friends, 
Are you sorry, now, to know^ ; 
That this is where my story ends, 
No further will I go. 




THE BIRD. 



^ I ^IIERE came a voice right from the woods, 
-^ It said, "0 see, O see !" 
The birds that flit about so gay. 
Then set the captive free. 

The birds, that in their cages pine. 
And fade away, and die ; 
And as we flit about the woods : 
We sigh, again, we sigh. 

I have a brother in a cage, 

T know not where is he ; 

Then can you tell me where he is : 

And set the captive free ? 

And then beside your cottage door. 
My sweetest song I'll raise ; 
In the branches of the old yew tree ; 
I'll sing my song of praise. 




THE FOWLS' PARTY. 

— -»QaDa» — 

TTTE will have a party, said Mr. Pearl, 

Looking round at his bed ; 
O there 's a splendid, long, white curl, 
Hanging over my head. 

Carrie and Speck, wake up my dears. 
And go and get some corn ; 
Go at once Carrie ! Don't you hear ? 
For it is early morn. 




Now we will see who we'll invite. 
Mollie, now she is one ; 
We'll have the party, now, to-night : 
I wonder who will come. 

I'm glad the party 's here at last, 
Topsy ! How do you do ? 
Oh, now they're coming in quite fast. 
Oh Pearlie ! How are you ? 

Oh Mr. Pearlie, how do you do ? 
You see I'm here at last ; 
Eleven Bramahs I'll show you. 
You'll soon be friends quite fast. 

Corn, and cake, were passed around. 
For fowlies to enjoy ; 
And lots of insects, too, were found, 
By a servant named Rob Roy ! 

But now a lot more guests have come, 
And they begin to eat ; 
Oh Mr. Pearl we've had such fun, 
And this is such a treat. 



m=== ^~^ =^=^ 



Ella's Life and Poems. 35 



But now we all are tired quite. 
We take our leave of you : 
Now Mr. Pearl ! We say good night. 
And bid vou all adieu. 



THE BIRD'S NEST. 



^ I ^HERE is a nest with one green egg, 

Low in a swinging bough ; 
The little bird, seems, to come and beg, 
For us not, to touch it, now. 

Oh don't be afraid little bird, 
Your nest I will not harm ; 
And even if you my footsteps heard ; 
You may sit in your nest, calm. 

And when you have hatched your egg, 
I'll see the little one : 
I will not rob your nest, I said, 
That will not be nice fun. 



And when you have flown away, 
And left the empty nest ; 
Oh I shall be very glad, to say, 
I let you have some rest. 

So dear little bu-d come again, 
And build in the same tree ; 
Or build in that tall, waving cane. 
That down in the marsh you see. 

I will not touch your little nest, 
Even if I find it out ; 
So little bird, you'll get some rest. 
And sing, and fly about. 

Good bye my pretty little bird, 

I must no longer stay : 

But what I've said, now you have heard. 

I'll come again, some day. 



THE WANDERER. 



/~\H love me more, wayfaring child, 
^^ Oh love me more, I am so wild ; 
love me more, because I roam : 
O love me more, think of my home. 

The little cot stands in the glen. 

The bears roared not, the birds sang then. 

Oh love me more, because I roam, 

love me more, for you have home. 

(This was written after reading a fable of a little 
animal, which wandered from a cottage, and was 
frightened by the bears.) 



THE RAIN. 



IT HATE the rain, my Lucy cried, 

I want to go and play, 
Papa said I could go and ride : 
If it was fine to-day. 

It makes the corn gi'ow, Auntie said, 
It clothes the fields with green ; 
It starts the flowers from their bed : 
The buds, they too are seen. 

It fills the river, to the brink, 
The fishes in it glide ; 
The thirsty cattle come to drink ; 
And they are satisfied. 



The birds are panting there for rain, 
But now they're full of joy ; 
They are singing all their songs again. 
Their tongues, they do employ. 

The earth feels cool after the shower, 
And you need not have cried ; 
For this will last but for an hour : 
Then you can go and ride. 




THE VOYAGE. 



Tj^ROM Liverpool we steamed away, 

-*- In a tug, to the large ship in the bay : 

And Nestorian, was the name ; 

Of the noble steamer on which we came. 

On we steamed, to the Ocean deep, 
Where thousands of shipwrecked mariners sleep 
No storms were encountered any day ; 
Swiftly and surely we steamed away. 

We were fourteen days on Ocean deep. 
And every night we went fast asleep ; 
Without fear, like a bird in its nest : 
And rocked by the Ocean, into rest. 




Touching at Halifax, on the way. 
We landed some passengers one day ; 
The place was cold as it could be : 
And we were glad when we got to sea. 

Our voyage soon came to an end, 

And no one, could to us, time longer lend ; 

For one line day, we saw the shore. 

Of our ship's destination, Baltimore. 

We said c^ood bye, with oreat reijret. 
To all the kind passengers we had met. 
And never saw them any more : 
But sailed again for another shore. 

We went on board the Adelaide, 
And again, at night, in our berths were laid 
And by next morning, with wind and tide. 
We landed at Norfolk, where we reside. 



Piece written the last day she lived, aged thirteen 
years and seven months. 



m 




TH^ BUTTERCUP. 



A BUTTERCUP raised its golden head 
Up, from out of its mossy bed ; 
A violet grew there by its side : 
The buttercup looked on it with pride, 
I gathered the lilies as they grew, 
Over the waters, wide and blue. 



& 



S^ii 




MEMOIR. 



Ella Marie Wilson Wells, second daughter of 
George and A. Wells, was born at Finchley, a North- 
ern suburb of the British Metropolis, July 27th, 1866. 

At six years of age she read attentively the New 
Testament, and during a six months' residence with 
relatives in the country, was remarkable for prayer, 
never forgetting to mention by name, the various per- 
sons employed on the farm. When seven years of 
age she accompanied her parents to Norfolk, Virginia. 

For three years she attended Colly Chapel Sunday 
School, nearly adjoining the farm, scarcely omitting 



46 Ella's Life and Poems. 



one Sabbath in a year, for which she obtained a prize, 
and afterwards accompanied her sister to Granby St. 
Methodist Church. She was greatly attached to both 
her teachers, Miss Clara Watts and Miss Mollie 
Woodhouse. She always said she would be a teacher 
and work for Jesus, and she took delight in perform- 
ing the lowliest service for him. 

She always remained with her parents to the com 
munion service in the Granby Street Methodist Epis- 
copal Church : and although she did not partake of 
the sacrament, yet the parents ever felt, she was a 
member of Christ's church, and might have consis- 
tantly done so. 

She prayed for almost everything, temporal and 
spiritual, and six weeks before her removal, at the re- 
quest of her mother, she gathered the children, and 
prayed with them, imploring blessings upon all her 
relatives and friends. Her first words were, "0 Lord, 
please make us all good children, and help us to love 
Thee, and work for Jesus'' She then prayed that God 
would bless Mr. Muller's Orphanage, feed and clothe 
he orphans, and send them all they wanted, and Miss 
Davis' Orphanage (Dublin), also for the soldiers and 
sailors. 



^ 

"i^ 



I i 



Illa's Lip^e and PoE3rs. 47 



Being impressed with her prayer, her parent said 
she ought to pray that God would make her a light, 
she said, "Oh Ma ! I believe T have prayed this pray- 
er every day since I was seven years old. You taught 
it me, one night at cousin's O God, Thou art light, 
and in Thee is no darkness at ail. Jesus said, I am 
the light of the world ; and he also said, ye are the 
light of the world, please make me a light, for Jesus' 
sake, amen." Her prayer was answered, she was a 
lio^ht to other the children. 

Her first lines were written Oct. 5th. 1876, at ten 
years of age, on the interment of her little sister, and 
one year after, being offered a prize for twelve com- 
positions, she wrote the others, continuing to increase 
them at various intervals. Not one word has been al- 
tered. 

She was convalescing from fever, and had apparent- 
ly recoverd, she did not complain of anything until 
the last day, March 8th, 1880, when she said her 
breathing was difficult the previous night, and she had 
a cough, but it was quite gone. She appeared well 
and cheerful, Avriting lines for the children during the 
day, and reading till late in the evening. At half past 



m 



ten her mother saw her in bed, she said she was com- 
fortable, and had no pain ; but a half an hour later, 
she came in her room gasping for breath, having ex- 
cruciating pain in her chest. Everything was done to 
alleviate her suffering. Captain Ed. Camp kindly and 
promptly fetched a physician, who pronounced it heart 
clot. Ere he arrived her father said she was dying, 
the mother in great distress said, "I am sure my child 
will not die, she will live, and help Ma. to work for 
Jesus !" She eagerly exclaimed, "Yes ! Yes ! 
Ma ! Ma !" and in one moment she was 

"Safe in the arms of Jesus, 
Safe on His gentle breast." 

A. W. 



